默克爾支持設立歐元區財長

Angela Merkel said she backed proposals for a eurozone budget and a Brussels-based finance minister, in a ringing endorsement of Emmanuel Macron’s vision for far-reaching reform of the single currency area.

德國總理安格拉?默克爾(Angela Merkel)表示，她支持有關制定歐元區共同預算和設立歐元區財政部長職位的提議。她的表態，有力地支持了法國總統埃曼紐爾?馬克龍(Emmanuel Macron)提出的對這個單一貨幣區進行具有深遠意義的改革的構想。

Her comments were the clearest indication yet that she plans to make overhauling the eurozone a key priority if she wins next month’s Bundestag elections and a central plank of her political legacy.

她的言論是迄今最爲明顯的跡象，表明如果她贏得下月的德國聯邦議院(Bundestag)選舉，她計劃將歐元區改革作爲重要優先任務並使之成爲她本人政治遺產的重要組成部分。

But experts stress that French and German perceptions of eurozone integration still widely diverge, and Ms Merkel herself said there was still no clarity about what a eurozone finance minister would actually do.

但專家們強調，法國和德國對歐元區一體化的看法仍存在巨大分歧。默克爾本人也表示，目前仍不確定歐元區財長實際上將做些什麼。

The chancellor made the comments at her annual summer press conference in Berlin, where she spoke for more than an hour-and-a-half on subjects ranging from Europe’s refugee crisis to relations with Turkey to the diesel scandal.

默克爾是在於柏林舉行的年度夏季新聞發佈會上發表上述言論的，她在會上的講話超過一個半小時，涉及歐洲難民危機、德國與土耳其的關係以及柴油車醜聞等等。

With less than a month till the elections, Ms Merkel has been under pressure to provide more detail about her plans for the eurozone. Her Social Democrat challenger Martin Schulz has been much more explicit in his support for Mr Macron’s reform ideas and accused the chancellor of lacking a vision for the future of Europe.

現在距離德國聯邦議院選舉還有不到一個月的時間，默克爾面臨着提出更詳盡的歐元區計劃的壓力。她的挑戰者、來自社會民主黨(Social Democrat)的馬丁?舒爾茨(Martin Schulz)更明確地表態支持馬克龍的改革想法，並指責默克爾對歐洲的未來缺乏構想。

Mr Macron has stepped up calls long made by an Italian-led group of southern eurozone countries for a common budget, one that finances investment to stimulate Growth and has a stabilising effect during economic crises. He has suggested that financing this with fresh debt should be an option. He also envisages the creation of a eurozone parliament to pass a euro-budget.

以意大利爲首的歐元區南方國家長期以來呼籲制定歐元區共同預算，爲投資項目提供資金以刺激經濟增長，並在經濟危機時期發揮穩定性作用。馬克龍則發出了更強烈的呼聲。他提出，可以考慮通過發行新債爲預算融資。他還設想創建一個歐元區議會來審議歐元區預算。

On Tuesday, Mr Macron reiterated that he would push for more social and fiscal “convergence” in the currency union. France, he told ambassadors in Paris, will outline a “dozen” proposals in the weeks following the German election to reform the eurozone.

週二，馬克龍重申，他將推動歐元區在社會和財政方面的進一步“融合”。他告訴各國駐巴黎大使，法國將在德國選舉後的幾周內列出十幾條改革歐元區的提議。

He added that Brexit was an opportunity for an “avant-garde” of countries who want to “move forward” to do so “without being hampered by member states who wish, that’s their right, to move more slowly or less far”.

他補充稱，英國退歐對於一些“前衛”國家來說是一個機會，這些國家希望“向前邁進”，“不被那些希望步伐慢一點或小一點——這是它們的權利——的國家拖後腿”。

Ms Merkel’s proposal on the eurozone budget is less ambitious than Mr Macron’s — a kind of fund to reward countries carrying out structural reforms. She said she envisaged a budget made up of “small contributions” rather than “hundreds of billions of euros”. It would disburse funds to countries that are reforming their economies “but which the Stability and Growth Pact doesn’t allow much room for manoeuvre”.

默克爾有關歐元區預算的提議不如馬克龍那麼雄心勃勃，即設立一種基金，獎勵那些實施結構性改革的國家。她表示，她設想的預算是由“小規模繳款”組成的，而非“數千億歐元”那種級別。它將把資金撥給那些正在推行經濟改革、“但在《穩定與增長公約》框架下沒有多大運作空間”的國家。

But even such a modest idea could be risky for Ms Merkel. German voters tend to suspect that any reform of the euro area is an attempt to get at their hard-earned cash. Germans fear the eurozone could transform into a transfer union, where member countries can issue common debt.

但對默克爾來說，即便是這種溫和的觀點也可能是有風險的。德國選民往往懷疑，歐元區的任何改革都是要拿走他們辛苦掙來的錢。德國人擔心，歐元區可能轉變爲一個轉移聯盟，成員國可能發行共同債券。

Ms Merkel has already ruled out any mutualisation of debt. But at the same time, she is making clear that she still wants to leave her mark on the euro area. “Her next term will probably be her last, so ensuring that the eurozone is on a stable footing would be important for her legacy,” said Mujtaba Rahman of Eurasia Group.

默克爾已經排除了任何債務分擔的可能性，但同時她明確表示，仍希望在歐元區留下自己的印記。歐亞集團(Eurasia Group)的穆傑塔巴?拉赫曼(Mujtaba Rahman)表示：“她的下一任期可能是最後一任任期，因此確保歐元區根基穩固將對其政治遺產非常重要。”

He said Germany also felt it had to do as much as possible to help Mr Macron succeed and ensure that he was not replaced at the next presidential election by Marine Le Pen of the National Front. “There is a recognition in Berlin that Macron’s and the EU’s success are intertwined,” he said.

拉赫曼表示，德國也認爲必須盡力幫助馬克龍取得成功，並確保他不會在下次總統大選中被法國國民陣線(National Front)的馬琳?勒龐(Marine Le Pen)擊敗。他說：“柏林認識到，馬克龍的成功和歐盟的成功密切相關。”

In addition to her comments on the euro-budget, Ms Merkel also said she supported the idea of a eurozone “economics and finance minister” who would help to provide “greater” coherence in economic policy across the single currency area and ensure that “competitive factors are harmonised”.

除了談到歐元區預算以外，默克爾還表示，她支持設立歐元區“經濟和財政部長”的想法，這將提高整個單一貨幣區經濟政策的一致性，並確保“競爭性因素和諧統一”。

She also backed her finance minister Wolfgang Sch?uble’s proposal to turn the European Stability Mechanism, the eurozone’s bailout fund, into a European Monetary Fund.

她還支持其財政部長沃爾夫岡?朔伊布勒(Wolfgang Sch?uble)提出的將歐元區紓困基金——歐洲穩定機制(European Stability Mechanism)轉變爲歐洲貨幣基金(European Monetary Fund)的提議。

“It’s a very good idea,” she told reporters. “We would be able to show the world that we have all the mechanisms in our eurozone portfolio to be able to react to unexpected situations”.

她向記者表示：“這是一個非常好的主意。我們將能夠向全世界表明，我們擁有一切能夠對突發情況做出反應的機制。”